Offbeat

Different drummers.

two orange tigers sitting beside each other

Once, I dreamed of a future. I was on a train and it was yesterday. We moved from this eye pinching light to somewhere beneath a canopy at night, a velvet plush of shadow. There was nothing like it, wild beast. Nothing.

Look at you. I watch you like a tiger and when you wake it is a welcome to my world look. There’s a cacophony now, a demented white nose machine. 

Remember yesterday? We looked for each other in the wet earth beneath the canopy, among the beetles and leeches, imagining their applause.

Here is where a warning should come in, regarding the volume of the gaze––don’t. But you say it’s language you’re seeking.

I am always in these machines on wheels, looking back.

I love it when an actor looks awkward, letting you see how they are trying.

Why do you think you enjoy that?

Because it’s a little off, missing all the marks we’ve come to expect. But if you look, you can read a new rhythm.

Author: Stacey C. Johnson

I keep watch and listen, mostly in dark places.

3 thoughts on “Offbeat”

  1. I like the way you captured the looks, and connected the tiger’s to the actor’s; can see that. Thanks for this Stacey!

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: